Our Republic is broken. What's to be done? With Joe on vacation, Abe tosses out a possible answer: a

Our Republic is broken. A lockstep minority, cloaked in arcane rules, can bring business to a complete halt. The influence of monied interests is rampant. The social contract has been shredded, and cherished liberties erode. A yawning chasm opens between rich and poor. A bloated foreign empire bleeds the Treasury. The public discourse is controlled by a profit-driven Fourth Estate that is loath to criticize its owners. The promise of a populist president seems impotent against the entrenched forces arrayed against him.

Our Republic is broken. What is to be done? Let's call a Constitutional Convention and fix it.

The arrest of 10 American Baptists for attempting to take children out of Haiti without permission has rekindled the debate over international adoption. Many Americans believe the plight of Haitian children more than justifies removal of orphans to new homes abroad. Critics fear incorrect identification of Haitian children as orphans and the potential for human trafficking.

With Joe on vacation, Abe takes on the warm, fuzzy, not-at-all divisive issue of Abortion.

It's clear that the issue of abortion elicits a visceral reaction from certain members of the political right, in a way that few other issues do. The reason why is perhaps less clear than it might appear. On the surface, it is framed by abortion opponents as a question of the right of a human to not be murdered. Dig a little deeper though, and you find a fear of sexuality and sex -- particularly female sexualty, and the choice of young women to have sex on their own terms.

With Joe on vacation, Abe takes on the warm, fuzzy, not-at-all divisive issue of abortion.

It's clear that the issue of abortion elicits a visceral reaction from certain members of the political right, in a way that few other issues do. The reason why is perhaps less clear than it might appear. On the surface, it is framed by abortion opponents as a question of the right of a human to not be murdered. Dig a little deeper though, and you find a fear of sexuality and sex -- particularly female sexualty, and the choice of young women to have sex on their own terms.

Two events, one in the recent past and one in the near future -- the conviction of Scott Roeder, murderer of Dr. George Tiller, and the airing of a controversial ad during this weekend's Super Bowl -- prompt Abe to take a closer look at the debate around this most contentious of issues.

In her foreward to the new anthology Kicked Out--by current and formerly homeless LGBTQ youth-- Judy Shepard (mother of Matthew Shepard) notes that a disporportionate percentage of the youth on America's streets are there in part because they identify as lesbian, gay or transgender. On Tuesday's Outloud show Jacob Anderson-Minshall spoke with Kicked Out editor Sassafras Lowrey and four of the contributors to this powerful collection. Here is the extended interview with one of those contributors, Tommi, who was kicked out and lived on the streets of New York back in the 1960s.

In her foreward to the new anthology Kicked Out--by current and formerly homeless LGBTQ youth-- Judy Shepard (mother of Matthew Shepard) notes that a disporportionate percentage of the youth on America's streets are there in part because they identify as lesbian, gay or transgender. On Tuesday's Outloud show Jacob Anderson-Minshall spoke with Kicked Out editor Sassafras Lowrey and four of the contributors to this powerful collection. Here is the extended interview with one of those contributors, Tenzin, who spent many years on the streets.

In her foreward to the new anthology Kicked Out--by current and formerly homeless LGBTQ youth-- Judy Shepard (mother of Matthew Shepard) notes that a disporportionate percentage of the youth on America's streets are there in part because they identify as lesbian, gay or transgender. Tune in Tuesday night as Jacob Anderson-Minshall speaks with Kicked Out editor Sassafras Lowrey and four of the contributors to this powerful collection. Hear first hand the painful and difficult experiences these kids face after they are forced from their homes because of ignorance or hate--and learn how little it can take to safe a life.